Corn-harvester.



No. 685,464. Patented 0st. 29, IBOI.

H. H. BOENKER.

CORN HABVESTER.

(Application filed. Apr. 15, 1901.)

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet l.

Patented Oct. 29, mm.v

H. H. BOENKER.

CORN HARVESTER.

(Application filed Apr. 15, 1901.1

4 Sheets Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

No. 685,464. Patented Oct. 29, 1901.

H. H. BOENKEB. CORN HARVESTER.

(Applieatioq filed Apr. 15, 1901.1 (No Model.) I 4 She ets-Sheet 3.

Wiliwwow m: minis mzns can viomuruu. wisumomu. u. c.

No. 635,464. Patented Oct. 29, l90l.

H. H. BOENKEB.

CORN HARVESTEB.

--(A.pplication filed. Apr. 15, 1901.\

4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY HERMEN BOENKER, OF ST. CHARLES, MISSOURI.

CORN-HARVESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersIatent No. 685,464, dated October29, 1901.

vi Application filed April 15, 1901. Serial ll'o. 55 9 24. (NomodeL) Toall whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY HERMEN Bonn- KER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of St. Charles, in the county of St. Charles andState of Missouri, have invented a Corn-Harvesting Machine, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to corn-harvesters which are adapted for thepurpose of cutting corn and shocking it, the machine being soconstructedthat the team is not required to straddle the row. I The machine cutstwo rows at a time, and after the stalks are out they are held in anupright position and conveyed, by means of a swinging conveyor, thatadapts itself to the increasing size ofthe shock, to a revolvingplatform, the latter being provided centrally with a reel, about whichthe shock is built as the stalks are deposited by the conveyer. As thecorn is being placed about the reel it is bound by a wire or cord, andthe shock when formed will consist of a layer of stalks wound helically,as shown in Figure 9 of the drawings. When the shock is completed, thereel is elevated out of the shock and the platform is tilted to depositthe shock onto the ground in the rear of the machine and in anuprightposition.

The following specification enters into a detail description of theconstruction and operation of my improved machine, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings'and to numerals thereon which designate thedifferent parts, and what I claim in the construction and combination ofparts is more specifically set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a corn-harvesting machineconstructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a bottom planview; Fig. 3, a detail view of the mechanism that cuts the corn. Fig. 4is a top plan view of the machine. Fig. 5 is a front view with the frontwheels removed. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the driving mechanism forunloading the shock. Fig. 7 is a detail view of the means for shiftingthe mechanism shown in Fig. 6 in and out of gear. Fig. 8 is a detailview of a portion-of the conveyer to show one of the conveyor-arms. Fig.9 is adiagram of the shock. Fig. 10 is a cross-section on the line 10 10of Fig. 1. Fig, 11 is a longitudinal sectional view near the right-handside of the machine. Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the front portionof the machine. Fig. 13 is a horizontal section on the line 13 13 ofFig. 11 in plan. Fig. 14 is a vertical section of a portion of themachine to show connections between the link that starts and stops themechanism for rotating the platform and the lever that operates saidlink. Fig. 15 is a detail view of the connection between the clutchmechanism that starts and stops the means for removing the shock fromthe platform and the link that operates the clutch. Fig. 16 is asectional view on the line C C of Fig. 2. Fig. 17v is a detail view ofone of the operating-levers and To one side of the front wheels of thetruck or wheeled frame is located the cutting and gathering mechanism,the cutting mechanism consisting of the knives 6, which are stationaryand have their cutting edges extending forwardly at an angle to make ashearing cut. The spaces in front of the cutting edges of the knives aresuch as to gather stalks that might not be standing straight and bringthem in position to be out, rotary cutting' disks '7 cooperating withthe stationary blades in cutting the stalks, said rotary cutting-disksbeing carried upon vertical shafts mounted in the framework, the outershaft/8 being provided with a reel 9, the arms of which gather thestalks and push them onto the knives. The stalks which are cut by theouter knife are conveyed by the reel 9 into a guideway formed by theguides 10 and 1-1, which are serpentine in form and carry the corn orstalks around the reel 9 to the reel 12, which in turn conveys them tothe conveyer 13. Conveyor-13 is carried upon shafts l4 and 15, mountedin the ends of a swinging arm or frame 16," having its axis on shaft 14,the said frame being swung by an operator on the machine as the size ofthe shock increases. At the lower end of the shaft 14 is mounted acircular knife or cutting-disk,that cooperates with the inner stationaryblade to cut the stalks in the row next the team, and

instead of this shaft being provided with a reel it carries the conveyor13, provided with the conveying-arms 17, the latter gathering thecornstalks and delivering them to the knives, and then conveys them,together with those cut by the other cutters, to the reel 18, mounted inthe rear of the swinging frame 16. The stalks while they are beingconveyed to the reel 18 are held in an upright position by the guards19. (Shown in Fig. 13 of the drawings.) The stalks that are gatheredbetween the arms of the reel 18 are taken by the reel 20, that islocated in the center of the revolving platform 5 and about which theshock is built. The conveying-arms 17 are pivoted to the conveyer13, asshown in Fig. 8, and provided with a heel 21, so that when they go backafter having delivered a load of stalks they are in the position shownin Fig. 4 until they get to the front of the machine, Whereupon the heel21 engages the curved extension of the vertical plate 22, as seen inFig. 13. The gathering-arm is thereby reversed and assumes the positionshown in dotted lines in Fig. 8. The gathering-arm then is in theposition to hold the corn which it receives, and it is held in suchposition by the continued engagement of the heel with the plate 22 untilthe load of corn is delivered finally to the reel 18. The shafts S, 12,and 14 are provided with sprocket-wheels, over which eX- tend thesprocket-chain 23. The shaft 14 of this series is driven from thebevel-gear 24, (shown in Fig. 2,) which engages the bevelgear 25,mounted on the shaft 26. This shaft is driven by the chain 27, extendingfrom the shaft 28, that is driven from the axle of one of the wheels lbythe chain 29.

The workmen on the machine wait until one section of the reel 18 becomesfilled with corn and then cause the platform 5 to revolve, whereby thereel 20 will take the corn from the reel 18. After the sections of thereel 20 are filled with corn the workman wraps the twine or wire aroundit and ties it.

When another layer is deposited around this first layer, he repeats theoperation and continues it until the shock becomes as large as desired.The revolving platform is mounted upon the framework, composed of thepieces 30, that extend longitudinally of the machine, and the frontcross-bar 31, pivoted at its ends in the main frame. The ends of the bar32 are provided with pins 33, adapted to be engaged by the lever 34,which is pivoted to the sides of the frame, as seen in Fig. 1. \Viththis construction the revolving platform 5 can be tilted down slightlyat its rear end. This is efiected by releasing the lever 34, that ispivoted at 35 in the frame and is connected by the link 36 to thebell-crank 37, that engages one end of the lever 34, the upper rear armof the bell-crank 37 resting upon and depressing the forward end of thelever 34. In order to elevate the rear end of the revolving platform,the 1ever'34is pushed forward and locked in the rack 38.

On the under side of the revolving platform the circular track 39 ridesupon the wheels 40, two of which are mounted on the ends of thestationary bar 41, that is fastened to the under side of the bars 30,and the others on the cross-bars 42, also attached' to said bars 30. Thecross-bar 43, that is secured to the side pieces of the main frame, Fig.2, is provided with brackets 44, that extend downward and are adapted tosupport the bars 30, so as to limit the downward movement of therevolving table or platform. The revolving platform is driven by theworm-wheel 45, in mesh with the worm 46, mounted on the shaft 47. Thisshaft is driven by means of the spur-wheels 48 and 49, the latter beingloosely mounted on the counter shaft 28, which is driven from the mainwheel 1. The spur 49 is thrown in and out of gear by the clutchmechanism 50, that is operated by the lever 51 and link 52, which inturn are actuated by the hand-lever 53, that extends up above the mainplatform of the machine, as seen in Fig. 14. By this construction theworkman is enabled to stop or start the revolvingplatform 5 as he maydesire. The

tilting movement of the platform does not move the gear 49 enough tocause it to disengage the gear 48. In front of the revolving platform 5there is seen in Fig. 4 the unloading-bar 54, which is secured centrallyby a rope to the rear end of the rack 55, as seen in Figs. 11 and 12. Ateach end of this unloading-bar I secure the rope 5G, wound by a drum 57,mounted on the shaft 58. This shaft is driven by the chain 59, runningfrom the counter-shaft 28 over the loose pulley 60. This is thrown inand out of gear by the clutch mechanism 61,tl1at is actuated,throughsuitable connections on the under side of the platform 4, (seen in Fig.15,) by the trip 62, adapted to be engaged by the lug 63 on theunloading-bar 54. NVhen the unloading-bar has been drawn rearward acrossthe revolving table or platform to push the shock of corn off, this trip62 is actuated, whereby the pulley 60 is thrown out of gear and theunloading-bar is moved no farther. It is re turned to its normalposition (shown in Fig. 4) by means of the rack 55, above referred to,which is actuated by the pinion 64 and the spunsegment 65, the latterbeing mount= ed on one end of the shaft 66. This shaft is driven by thegear-wheel 67 mounted on its other end, the said gear-wheel having itsperiphery notched or recessed for the purpose hereinafter described, andis driven by the intermediate gear (38, that meshes with the gear 69,which is mounted on the end of the shaft 26. Before the shock isunloaded, however, it is necessary to lift the reel 20 out of the shock.This is done by the lever 70, mounted between its ends on the shaft 71,which in turn is mounted on the up- IOC rights 72, that are secured tothe frame. To the front end of the lever 7 O is secured a rope 73,passing about the drum 74, mounted on a shaft with its bearingin anupright post 75. The drum 7% is driven by the pinion 76, that mesheswith the spur-wheel 77, on whose shaft is secured the small pinion 78,that meshes with the rack 55. It will thus be seen that as theunloading-bar 54 moves toward the shock the rack 55 will also be movedin that direction, and this will wind the rope 73 on the drum 74,drawing down the lever and lifting the reel 20 out of the shock. Therack has then moved to the right, as shown in Fig. 6, or to the left inFig. 12, and its front end has disengaged the small pinion 78, and it isnecessary to lock the spur 77. This is done by means of the gravity-pawl79, that drops down beyond the forward end of the rack, said pawl havinga lug which engages the spur 77 and holds it in place until the rack isreturned. On its return the rack lifts the gravity-pawl 79 out ofengagement with the wheel 77 and also engages the small pinion 7S anduncoils the rope on the drum, allowing the reel 20 to return to itsplace in the revolving platform forv the purpose of making thenextshock. WVhen the shock is to be released, the lever Sat is moved tothe rear, whereupon through the link or rod 36 it tilts the rear end ofthe platform slightly and at the same time draws rearward the rod 80,that is connected at one end to a pin in the lever 84, that extendsthrough a slot in said rod, as seen in Fig. 17, and at the other end toa sliding shoe 81, Fig. 7, which engages the lower end of the pawl 82,causing the upper end of said pawl to engage the lug 83 on the side ofthe gear-wheel 67, and thus check the rotation of said wheel while thecog-segment 65 is out of engagement and when the pinion is in the notchor recess in the periphery of the gear-wheel 67. At the same time thelever 84 actuates the mechanism shown in Fig. 15 to throw the clutch 61into gear, whereupon the drums 57 operate to draw the ropes 56, andthereby the unloading-bar 54, rearward. The lower end of lever 84: isconnected by chain to the forward end of the rod of the clutchoperatingmechanism. (See Fig. 17.) The rearward movement of the unloading-bar 54,caused by the ropes 56, then draws the rackbar 55 back. When the shockis unloaded, the workman throws the hand-lever 84 forward, thus raisingthe platform and releasing the engagement of the pawl 82 with the lug 83on the cog-segment 67, whereby it will be permitted to rotate, andthrough the cogsegment 65 and pinion 64 the rack-bar 55 is drawn towardthe front and the unloadingbar returns to its original position. The cosegments 65 and 67 should be so mounted relatively to each other thatwhen they stop the segment 65 will be chiefly on the front side of theshaft 66, as shown in Fig. 12, whereby its gravity will cause thesegment 67 to move into engagement with pinion 68 when it is released.At the same time, as stated, the reel 20 is let down into place in therevolving platform ,and the workman on the platform swings the rear endof the conveyer-frame toward the reel 20 and holds it in place while itis depositing the corn. The lower end of the reel 20 is squared and titsin a square hole or socket in the center of the revolving table.

It is intended that the sleeve 20 which carries the arms of the reel 20,should be adjustable upon the reel-post in order that it may be locatedto suit the condition of the corn. The reel is secured after adjustmentby means, of the set-screw.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters 7 Patent, is-

1. In a corn-harvester, the combination, of a suitable platform, aninner and an outer set of cutting-knives at the front end thereof, areel-shaft mounted near the outer sets of knives, a conveyer-shaftmounted near the innerset of knives, a conveyer actuated by theconveyer-shaft and extending to the rear of the machine, a reel-shaftbetween the sets of knives, and means for driving the aforesaid shafts;together with reels, and guards extending by said reels and along theconveyer and codperating with them to convey the corn in anuprightposition to the rear of the machine, substantially as shown anddescribed.

2. In a corn-harvester, the combination, of a revolving platform uponwhich the corn is built or stacked, an unloading-bar mounted near theinner end of said platform, means for drawing the unloading-barrearward, a rack connected to the unloading-bar, a reel removablymounted in the center of the platform, and mechanism for elevating thereel preparatory to unloading the shock, substantially as'shown anddescribed.

3. In a corn-harvester, the combination, of the cutting-knives, arevolving platform, and conveyors extending from the knives to theplatform together with a vertical reel removably mounted in the centerof the platform, a lever connected to the upper end of said reel, a drumhaving a rope connected to the other end of said lever, a rack-bar inmesh with a pinion on the drum-shaft, rope connections extending fromthe rack-bar, a shaft driven from one of the ground-wheels of themachine, adrum on said shaft, and means for throwing the last-mentioneddrum in and out of engagement with its shaft, substantially as shown anddescribed.

4. In a corn-harvester, the combination, of two knife-bladesarrangedside by side, out ting-disks cooperating with the knives andmounted at the lower ends'of driven shafts, a reel on the outer shaft,an interposed reel, and guards extending around the rear side of theouter shaft and around the forward side of the interposed shaft 5together with a conveyer extending around the inner shaft and extendingto the rear of the machine, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a corn-harvester, the combination, of two knife-blades,cutting-disks cooperating therewith and mounted upon vertical drivenshafts, a reel on the outer shaft and an interposed reel, guards orguide-plates extending around the rear side of the outer shaft andaround the forward side of the interposed reel, and a oonveyer-beltextending from the inner shaft, and a guide-plate extending along oneside of said conveyer-belt together with a revolving platform at therear end of the conveyor-belt, a removable reel mounted on saidplatform, and means for elevating said reel, substantially as shown and(1escribed.

HENRY HERMEN BOENKER. In presence of- G. W. SEEBURGER, GILBERT P.BOSCHERT.

